Journal poll taps into economy, finances

A fair economy. Inflation. Crime.

Last week, as the country moves closer to Election Day, the Journal ran a series of stories based on a poll done by Research & Polling Inc. The poll questions sought opinions from likely voters and was done Sept. 6-Sept. 13, except for Sept. 10, which was the night of the presidential debate.

The Journal business desk handled several of the poll questions.

One of the questions: Thinking about New Mexico's economy, how would you rate economic conditions today? Would you say they are ... excellent, good, fair, poor or don't know?

The most common response was essentially a shoulder shrug, as 40% of respondents said it was fair. The next most common response was poor, with 38%.

Only 1% of people said it was excellent and 19% said it was good.

Another question for the business desk was: Would you say you are financially better off, worse off or about the same as before the COVID-19 pandemic?

Unfortunately, the most common answer was worse off, with 38% of respondents. Nearly the same number of people — 37% — said they were about the same. About a quarter of people, 24%, said they were better off.

Breaking down the data further, 34% of people with a college degree and 36% of people with a graduate degree said they were better off.

Meanwhile, 21% of respondents with had a high school degree, vocational or trade school experience reported that they are better off now than they were before the pandemic.

The other poll question the business desk wrote about was a broad one. What is the biggest issue or concern facing New Mexico residents right now?

I thought this was the most interesting response. I would have guessed the crime and homelessness would have been top of the list.

Instead, New Mexico likely voters said they were most concerned about inflation. Inflation was the main concern for 18% of respondents. Crime was next on the list with 16%. Homelessness was a major concern for just 7% of likely voters.

The explanation appears to be that everyone is affected by inflation. We all buy groceries. We've all seen how prices have gone up in the last year.

Digging a little deeper into the data, there were some issues that fell along party lines, and others were bipartisan.

For example, 16% of liberal and conservatives said they were concerned about crime, and 9% of liberals and conservatives reported being concerned about K-12 education being poor.

Meanwhile, 15% of conservatives said they were concerned about illegal immigration and border security. Just 1% of liberals shared that concern.